On April 10, the citizen consultation for the revocation of the mandate will be held. The National Electoral Institute (INE) defines this process as follows: “It is the instrument of participation requested by the citizens to determine the anticipated conclusion in the performance of the person holding the Presidency of the Republic, from the loss of confidence ”.
Citizens with the right to vote in Mexico will be asked a question. The INE explains that the content of the question will be: “Do you agree that Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President of the United Mexican States, have his mandate revoked due to loss of confidence or remain in the Presidency of the Republic until your period ends?” The INE ballot has two boxes: The one on the left side says: “That the mandate be revoked due to loss of confidence.” The one on the right side: “That he continue in the Presidency of the Republic.”
Given the immanence of this citizen consultation exercise, there are some notes published here in Lecturas EL DEBATE in February 2005. They refer to some reflections made with José Woldenberg, the first President of the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), antecedent of the INE, but also , advisor to the IFE when it was chaired by the Secretary of the Interior:
“On one occasion at the IFE, in the mid-1990s, when the president was still the Secretary of the Interior, the councilors discussed an issue that raised a lot of controversy. There were the citizen councillors, Santiago Creel, then without a party and a few years later deputy and candidate for the PAN and now Secretary of the Interior of a government of PAN extraction; José Woldenberg, ultimately president of the IFE; Miguel Angel Granados Chapa, a few years later the PRD’s candidate for governor in Hidalgo, the director of prerogatives, Juan Molinar, would later become a citizen advisor to the IFE itself and later Fox’s deputy secretary of the interior and now a federal deputy for the PAN; Felipe Solís as director of organization, before being secretary of elections for the PRI and federal deputy of that party; finally, there were these and other citizen councillors.
After several hours, they could not reach an agreement, and the disqualifications began. Then José Woldenberg intervened and told the others, words more or less: We arrived at the IFE as a product of a consensus of the main political parties, at the moment that consensus ceases to be viable, the agreement is exhausted or broken, at that moment, it is better to resign, we cannot insist on continuing here. On some occasion I reminded Woldenberg of the anecdote and he accepted my version, I am even sure that this was his line of conduct during the seven years in which he served as President of the IFE from 1996 to 2003” (Readings, EL DEBATE, 6/Feb /2005).
President and directors of the INE
The current president and the directors of the INE are the product of consensus between the parties and their fractions in the Chamber of Deputies. They organized the 2018 presidential elections, where Morena’s candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was elected president of the republic. There is no doubt that the performance of the INE is and has been legal and legitimate. In addition, attached to what the constitution and laws mandate. When a party or candidate has had issues against them, they have filed their legal appeals before the local and federal courts in electoral matters and both have complied with and observed the resolutions of the courts.
The preliminary results of the mandate revocation consultation will be known the same day. Days later the final results will be known. It is a free and autonomous decision whether or not to go to the polls to participate, as well as the sense in which they are going to decide their participation. The number of participants and the result of the majority will decide the outcome: this is democracy.
Paragraphs: Of independent candidacies
Political representation goes through the vote. The figure of political representation of those citizens who do not militate or are nominated by a registered political party are independent candidacies. The INE defines them as follows: “Independent candidates are those made up of citizens who are running for a popularly elected position and who do not belong to a political party, thereby exercising the right to be voted for.” In order for a citizen to be an independent candidate, they must meet a series of requirements established by electoral laws. If they are not met, you simply are not a candidate nor are you on the ballot. Undoubtedly there will be those who judge that these requirements are difficult for independent candidates to meet, even that they were designed so that there would be no possibility of candidacies outside the party apparatuses registered with the electoral authorities. This is the law, and you can only observe it at the risk of being sanctioned.
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